Aire Self-Flying Robotic Home Assistant

Aire's approach, a robotic home assistant that flies autonomously, is verrrry interesting. Especially considering my first order of business when I catch something flying autonomously around my condo is to swat or Bug-A-Salt it. I'm supposed to live in harmony with the self-propelling Aire?

Given that their buzzing cohabitator will stay out of my way, not run into or knock over my furniture, obey my voice-prompted commands, provide me with security alerts, and take 360-degree selfies of me blowin' it up on the couch with my 8Bitdo SN30, creator Aevena Robotics thinks I'll be happy to. (And the Aire home assistant doesn't really buzz.)

If Alexa had an affair with a drone (possibly because you told her to...) the Aire could be their unplanned pregnancy. Look at it. Cylindrical. Black. Blue LED light ring at the top. And the Aire is built to integrate with the Amazon Echo. They must share some of the same DNA.

From Daddy Drone the Aire inherited flight, which here includes a ducted system rather than a quadcopter design for propulsion. Interesting. That rules out DJI as the father. The Aire navigates using multiple cameras, sonar, and onboard IMU sensors to gauge its position and detect obstacles - a lot of this tech is similar to that used in self-driving cars.

The assista-drone responds to voice commands or minimalist app flight controls from your mobile device; you can "talk" to it from home or remotely, and don't need any piloting experience to use it. The Aire also has learning capabilities, so it will pick up new skills over time through over-the-air updates and leveraging IFTTT automation or Mama Alexa.

Additional Aire features include:

• Security. The home assistant sends anomaly alerts when something is off, and allows you to review or launch visuals through the app to inspect them or check in on the house / the people in it.
• Photography. Aire takes HD photos, 360-degree panoramas, and 4K videos. It can also live stream.
• Whispertech Quiet Flight Technology. A patented noise reduction system Aevena says makes Aire "better-sounding than any drone on the market."
• Docking. Just as it flies autonomously, Aire docks to sleep and recharge on its own too - provided the dock is within its visual range. If you install multiple docks around your house, Aire can identify and land on / take off from all of them.
• Voice-command Flight. Paired with Alexa, you can pilot the Aire using voice commands. Manual flight control, as mentioned, is also available through the app.

Learn more, watch a ton of demo videos, and pledge for your own Aire on Kickstarter through October 20, 2017.